Attachment for sewing slide fasteners to garments



H. CARMEN April 4, 1961 ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING SLIDE FASTENERS TO GARMENTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 8, 1956 INVENTOR. fliMA/V Che/145v BY @Q W ATTO/QA [V April 4, 1961 ATTACHMENT Filed Feb. 8, 1956 H. CARMEN FOR SEWING SLIDE FASTENERS TO GARMENTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 By w ITTOR/VL V April 4, 1961 H. CARMEN 2,977,904

ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING SLIDE FASTENERS TO GARMENTS Filed Feb. 8, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

/7) MAA/ Caz/145w ATTORNEY H mum-1W H. CARMEN ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING SLIDE FASTENERS TO GARMENTS Filed Feb. 8. 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 CAR/145m W VW INVEN TOR.

w R mm (MU. M w R mm H. CARMEN April 4, 1961 ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING SLIDE FASTENERS TO GARMENTS Filed Feb. 8, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR flJ MAA/ d/w/wf/v I BY ATTO/OVEV pre e in ent on,

ATTACHNIENT FGR SEWING SLIDE FASTENERS T GARMENTS Hyman Carmen, CoteSt. Luc, Canada, assignor to Talon, Inc., a corporation of Pennsylvania,

FiledFeb. 8, 1956, Ser. No. 564,337

1,Claim. (Cl. 112-2) This invention relates to an improved device or attachment for attaching slide fasteners to garment parts particularly adaptable to sewing slide fasteners in jackets and the like. i

In the manufacture of jackets and the like in which a slide fastener is employed to close an opening in the front side thereof, it is the general practice to fold over the opposite outer edges of the outer side ofthe jacket material and sew them to the outer sides of the fabric stringer tapes of the slide fastener. Thereis also usually provided a facing material which edges arealso folded over and sewn to the inner sides of the stringer tapes. Also there is provided a pleat reinforcement or stiffener strip which is disposed in the fold of the outer material in order to provide sufficient body along the stringer tapes. Heretofore, it was the general practice to sew the outer material together with the reinforcement strip to one of the stringer tapes then sew the facing to the opposite sides of the stringer tapes. Obviously this was a laborious operation and oftentimes one side did not match with the other side thereby resulting in an application which was not neat appearing. It .is to a device or attachment for sewing the folded edge portions of both outer material and the facing material together with a reinforcement strip to both of the fabric tapes of the slide fastener simultaneously that the present invention relates. 7

Accordingly, it is the general object of the present invention to provide an improved device or. attachment for sewing machines in which the edge portion of garmen-t. parts are simultaneously folded,ggui ded and sewn toibothstringer tapes of a slide'fastener;

It is another object. .of the invention to. provide a simple and inexpensive attachment .which. can be easily nd quickly incorporated. with. a conventional. type seW- ingmachine.

[,It isQa. further .object of this inventionto-provide an improved attachment whereby ,an improved method is obtained. insewing, garment parts .to a slide fastener which is efficient and effective in itsnse and practice; I

-It,-is still another object .of the present inventionto provide an improved attachment. and method by means of whichslide-fasteners canbe attachedto garment parts in, a rninimum 7 amount of timeby'the most unskilled operator.

Various other objects andadvantages .of this invention- .will be m ore apparen'tinthe course .of;the-follow'ing "specification, and will be panticularly pointed ,.out in; the appended claims. 3

In the accompanying'di'awings, there isjlsligwn .for the p rppse 'of illus-tration,:.an, embodiment which my;in-'

ventionmay assumeinpractice.

Inthesedrawings: n V Fig ,1 .is a perspective .view, taken from the front side,

of the combined ,gnidingandafolding attachmentyof thef B s; z-isa ea le evati nal vhw @r hs1smei;.t

v Fig. 3 isa'pla'n view ofmy nnproved attachnientshow Pfl'atentecl Apr. 4, 961

ing it mounted on the work bed of a sewing machine in position for' use with garment parts positioned therein,

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 4,

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 66 of Fig. 4,

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken. on line 7-7 of Fig.6,

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on line 88 of Fig. 4,

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view of the inner end of the attachment adjacent the needles of the sewing machine,

Fig. 10 is a front view of the garment parts after they have been sewn together by the attachment of the present invention,

Fig. 11 is a rear view of the sewn garment parts as shown in Fig. 10, and

Fig. 12 is a sectional. view taken on line 12-12 of Fig. 10.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the garmentparts to be sewn by the improved attachment of the present invention will first be described. As shown in Figs. 10, 11 and 12 of the drawings, the reference character 2 indicates part of a garment, such as a jacket front, and 3 is a slit or opening formed in the garment. A slide fastener F is attached to opposite sides of the opening to provide a means for opening and closing the opening in a well known manner. Such a slide fastener consists of a pair of fabric stringer tapes T having a series of spaced-apart interlocking fastener elements E attached to the opposed edges thereof and having a slider S mounted thereon for longitudinal movement therealong and along the opening for engaging and disengaging the fastener elements in awell known manner. The fabric tapes T .are attached to the garment parts by a single row of stitches 8 positioned to either side of the opening.

The front .2 of the garment together with a pleat stiffener 10 arranged in the folded edge thereof, is disposed concerned.

I drawings.

. The main part. of the sewing machine, namely, the mechanism for forming the stitches and feeding the material to the needles is not shown as such is well known to those skilled in the art. There is shown, however,

-a pair of. needles N which. are spaced apart-the proper distance for sewing the two fabric tapes T of the slide fastener to opposite edges of theopening 3. The presser foot 13 of the sewing machine is divided toform two spaced-apart feet. In the space between these feet, there is arranged a hold down shoe 14 which extends forwardly of the needles N and-is adapted to co-operate with the way for reception of'the fastener. elements E ofthe slide fastener as they pass between the needles N.

5 Referring now to Figs. 1 through 9 of the drawings, the improved combined folding and guiding attachment of the .present invention consists of a rectangular-shaped plate 2 9 I which isadapted to be attached tothebedplate' 21 of a conventional double needle sewing machine forw ardlyfbf the presser' foot and needles; There is mounted, on this plate 20. rearwardlyfthereof, an elongated laterally extending member 22 which is preferably slightly arcuated and to which there is attached by means of screws 23 adjacent each end thereof, a pair of lower guide members 24 having oppositely disposed curled over spaced-apart inner end portions 25 and septums 25a extendinginto the openings formed by the curled over inner end portions. There is mounted on the outer extending portion 26 of each of these guides 24, a relatively thin plate guide member 27 which is attached thereto by means of screws 28 arranged for lateral adjustment in slots 29 of extending portions 30. As shown more clearly in Fig. 2, theiuner edge portions 31 of these guide members 27 are disposed adjacent the curled over end portions 25 of the guides 24- and the septums 25a, with which they co-operate. It is the purpose of guide members 24 in co-operation with the guides 27 to fold the edge portions of the facingupon themselves and guide them to the needles. Thus, it will be seen that each of the lower guiding and folding members consist of two parts, one of the parts being a relatively thin metallic member having a curled over inner edge portion which is attached to the plate-like member with the other part also being a relatively thin metallic member substantially U-shaped in cross section and telescopically arranged with the first part with which it cooperates.

There is also mounted on the plate 20, a bracket member 32 which extends upwardly between the curled over edge portions 25 of the guides 24. On this bracket 32, there is mounted a laterally extending bar-like member 33 to which there is attached a pair of upper guiding and folding members 34. Each of these upper guide members 34 consists of laterally extending plate-like portion 34a and along the opposed inner edge portions thereof, there is provided a reversely curled over portion or curved hem guide 35, oftentimes referred to as a scroll. These scrolls 35 are arranged preferably intermediate the depth of the respective guides and preferably do not extend the full depth thereof. The leading edges of each of the plate-like portions 34a are curved inwardly toward one another, as at 34b, beyond the scrolls 35, which leading edges are adapted to be positioned immediately forward of the presser foot 13 for the purpose of bringing the folded edges of the outer garment parts together substantially in abutment with one another as the garment parts are delivered to and fed in under the presser foot, as more clearly shown in Fig. 9 of the drawings, so that the fastener F is completely covered, which is a most important aspect of the present invention.

Above the fastener guide 36 at the outer end thereof, there is arranged a bracket member 38 having a central bridge portion and laterally extending arm portion 39 by means of which this bracket is attached to the member 33 by screws 40. As more clearly shown. in Figs. 4 and 6 of the drawings, there is pivotally attached, as at 41, to this bracket 38, a shoe 42 with the inner end thereof being forked so as to provide a pair of spaced-apart fingers 43, as more clearly shown in Figs. 4, 6 and 7, which are disposed in the fastener guide 36 and adapted to rest on the fabric tapes T of the fastener as it passes through the guide. The shoe is urged downwardly into the guide by means of a leaf spring 44 which is attached at one end to the bracket 33 by means of a screw 45. It will beseen that the curled over inner end portions 25 and 35 of the guides 24 and 34, respectively, and the fastener guide 36 converge toward the inner side of the attachment at a point directly opposite the needles. V

here is provided another fastener guiding means46 in the form of a bent wire member which extends forwardly and outwardly from the attachment at apoint directly opposite the fastener guide 36. This wire member is at-. tached to the laterally extending member 33 by means of the screws 47 which also secure theguide members34 thereto. Centrally of this wire member, there is provided a loop-like portion 43in which the ,fastener is disposed and through which it passes to the guide 36. Itlisthe 4 purpose of this guide 46 to direct the fastener to the guide 36.

Having described the construction of the improved attachment of my invention, it functions in the following manner. The guides 24, 27 and 34 are first adjusted laterally by means of the screws 23, 28 and 40, 47, respectively, for the garment parts to be sewn. The garment parts and fastener are then threaded into and through the various guides 24, 34 and 36 to position under the presser foot and needles. In case of garment parts for a jacket, as shown in Figs. 10 through 12 of the drawings, as previously described, the facings 9 are positioned in the lower guides 24 and the curled over edge portions 25 of these guides fold the edge portions upon themselves as they are fed into and move through the guides to the needles. The front or outer garment parts 2 together with the pleat stiffener 10 and arranged folded edge portions thereof are then threaded into and through the upper guides 34 and as these parts pass therethrough, the curled over edge portions 35 fold the edge portions and pleat stitfener upon themselves with the folded pleat stiffener disposed in the folded edge portions of the front 2 as they pass to the needles. A slide fastener F is then threaded into and through the guide 36 in under the shoe 42 arranged with the guide and the shoe 14 arranged with the presser foot 13 and between the folded edge portions of the facing material 9 and the outer material or front 2 of the garment. The sewing machine is then set in operation and as the garment parts pass into and through the guides and in under the needles, it will be seen that the facing 9 is sewn to one side of the fabric tapes T of the fastener and that the outer side 2 together with the pleat stiffener 10 folded therein is sewn to the opposite side of the fabric tapes.

As the fastener moves through the guide 36 it will be understood that the shoe 42 bears on the tapes T of the fastener thereby tending to keep them taut and under tension between that point and the presser foot and needles and that the shoe 14 carried by the presser foot bears on the fastener elements E of the fastener so as to maintain the fastener fiat and to co-operate with the shoe 42 to keep the fastener under tension as it is introduced to the needles. That is to say, the fastener is always maintained under a slight tension as it passes to the needles and this is one of the important aspects of the success of the present invention.

As a result of my invention, it will be seen that there is provided a simple and inexpensive device which can be easily and conveniently attached to any conventional type double needle sewing machine. It is efficient and effective in its use and can be used by the most unskilled sewing machine operator. By the use of this attachment, it will be seen that the garment parts can be sewn to a slide fastener with a minimum amount of effort in a minimum length of time. It .will also be seen that an extremely neat appearing application of a slide fastener to the garment parts is obtained by the use of this attachment. 7 While I have shown and described an embodiment which my invention may assume in practice, it will be understood that this embodiment is merely for the purpose of illustration and description, and that other forms may be devised within the scope of my invention as defined in the appended claim.

What I claim as my invention is: 7 7 u In combination with a sewing machine provided with a pair of spaced-apart needles, a combined guiding and folding attachment for securing the folded edges of garment parts to the opposed stringer tapes of a slide fastener, comprising a plate-like member which is adapted to be attached to the work-bed of the sewing machine forwardly of said needles, an upwardly extending bracket member mounted on said plate-like member, a pair of upper guiding and folding members mounted ,on said bracket member. for folding. and guiding the garment parts to the needles, each of said upper. guiding .andfolding 5 members consisting of a laterally extending plate-like portion having 'a curled over portion arranged along the inner edge thereof intermediate thedepth of the same, the leading edge of each of said plate-like portions being curved inwardly toward one another beyond the respec tive curled over portions whereby the folded edges of the garment parts are brought together substantially in abutment with one another as'the garment parts are delivered from said curled over portions and to said needles, a slide fastener guide member mounted on said bracket member below and between the curled over inner edge portions of said guiding and folding members, a pivotally mounted forked shoe-like member arranged with said slide fastener guide member for applying tension to the 7 over inner edge portion and which is attached to said first mentioned plate-like member, the other of said parts being a plate-like member folded'upon itself and telescopically bers being so arranged that the garment parts and slide fastener will converge and meet at a point directly forwardly of the needles when the garment parts and slide fastener are fed into and through the respective guides with the free edges of the stringer tapes adapted to be positioned between the folded edge portions of the gar-. ment parts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,352,675 Moifatt Sept. 14, 1920 2,079,834 Blumenkrantz May 11, 1937 2,096,330 Le Vesconte Oct. 19, 1937 2,131,250 a De Voe Sept. 27, 1938 2,166,350 Freshman July 18, 1939 2,3 29,991 Kellum Sept. 21, 1943 2,776,635 Blumenkrantz Jan. 8, 1957 

